The present invention pertains generally to systems for separating ferrous and non-ferrous materials and more particularly to systems for separating ferrous and non-ferrous beverage containers.
Conventional metal separators for separating ferrous and non-ferrous materials have utilized a horizontally disposed conveyor belt which is driven between a magnetic head pulley and an additional pulley. Power is derived from an electric motor attached to a gear box which couples power to the conveyor belt assembly by way of a drive belt. Ferrous and non-ferrous materials are normally dropped onto the top horizontal portion of the conveyor belt and transported to the magnetic head pulley. Non-ferrous materials drop vertically from the outer horizontal portion of the magnetic head pulley while the ferrous materials traverse around the circumference of the magnetic head pulley on the conveyor belt and are released from the conveyor belt after separation from the magnetic field of the magnetic head pulley. Consequently, ferrous and non-ferrous materials are horizontally separated by a predetermined distance.
The disadvantages and limitations of such conventional separators are that they are generally relatively large and complex devices. The conveyor belt assembly plus the additional gear box motor and drive belt occupy a substantial amount of space. This is clearly a disadvantage for use in devices which are spaced limited. Additionally, the amount of horizontal displacement between ferrous and non-ferrous materials is limited by the size of the magnetic head pulley in such a configuration. Also, the reliability of such systems because of their complexity also limits the operation of these devices. Increased maintenance of individual motors, gear boxes and drive belts, as well as the two pulley system used in the conveyor belt assembly, is prone to break down and high maintenance costs. Also, the continual application of metal pieces to be separated causes excessive wear of the conveyor belt. The requirement of flexibility of the conveyor belt limits its wear resistance properties.